Sunday, November 16, 2008

Pictures

Micah and I got a new camera so we are able to document the life of our new baby girl. So I've been practicing taking pictures of my first baby... Reese. I'm no where near as good as my aunt, but at least you can see what I'm taking pictures of. Enjoy


Making Whoopie...

Whoopie Pies that is. I've had several people ask for the chocolate whoopie pie recipe. Since I actually make it by combining several different recipies and adding a few touches of my own, I actually had to make them this morning and write down what I was doing. Without further ado, here is the recipe.
Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Frosting

1 egg
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 c. sugar
2 c. unsifted all-purpose flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 package of chocolate pudding mix
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease two large cookie sheets and set aside. In a large bowl with mixer at medium speed beat egg and vegetable oil. Gradually beat in sugar and continue beating until pale yellow in color. In another bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, chocolate pudding mix and salt. In a measuring cup combine milk and vanilla. Add flour and milk mixtures alternately to eggs and sugar, beginning and ending with dry ingredients. Depending on who dry the batter is, you may need to add more milk. The batter will be thick.

Use a ice cream scoop to drop batter on greased cookie sheet. Bake about 10-12 minutes or until top springs back when lightly touched with finger. Remove to wire racks to cool. When cool, use filling and two cakes to make sandwiches.

Peanut Butter Icing Filling
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tablespoons milk, or as needed
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Place the butter and peanut butter into a medium bowl, and beat with an electric mixer. Gradually mix in the sugar, and when it starts to get thick, incorporate milk one tablespoon at a time until all of the sugar is mixed in and the frosting is thick and spreadable. Beat for at least 3 minutes for it to get good and fluffy.

Monday, November 03, 2008

It's November!

It's November and only 25 more days until one of my favorite holidays - Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving, I think it is a combination of the food, festival decorations and family. This year, I'm hosting Thanksgiving here in Maryland because I'm unable to travel due to Baby Gelman's impending arrival. I've started to look into the menu options. (You all know that the foodie in me is going to bring a something new to a traditional dish. So watch out foodnetwork.com, here I come.) I've already got an idea for dessert - Bourbon Walnut Pie. (Yeah, it is THAT good.) Now I've just got to plan out the rest of the menu. So feel free to send me your favorite Thanksgiving recipes!


On to other updates, Katie came down last weekend for a visit. We did a lot of shopping and just plain hanging out. It was a good visit. As Katie might be one of the pickiest eaters I've ever met, we made mac and cheese one night. I'm talking the real stuff, from scratch. Thanks to a couple of phone calls to mom for the recipe (which is actually on the back of the Muellers' pasta box, but they don't sell Muellers here. What is up with that?), we were on our way. Katie was in charge of the cheese grating. I even took pictures because she was sure that her mother wouldn't believe her that she actually made mac and cheese from scratch.




Dinner came out great, we all enjoyed it. Now here comes the bad part, as I was putting the dish in the fridge, I dropped it. An almost full dish of mac and cheese ended up on the floor. Micah was bummed because he was hopping to have some as a late night snack and I was bummed that I broke a good piece of my Corning wear set. (I felt so bad about dropping the mac and cheese that I made another dish on Monday night.) Anyway, beside the broken dish, the weekend was a lot of fun. Hopefully, Katie will be able to make it down here after Baby Gelman is born or I might need to make a trip up to NH so all the NH family can see her ;).